Saxifraga rivularis L. on Beinn Eighe

Summary

A new locality for Saxifraga rivularis is described from Beinn Eighe, Wester Ross. Species lists from the site and from two nearby sites are compared in relation to soil analyses.     

Airport detection in remote sensing images: a method based on saliency map

The detection of airport attracts lots of attention and becomes a hot topic recently because of its applications and importance in military and civil aviation fields. However, the complicated background around airports brings much difficulty into the detection. This paper presents a new method for airport detection in remote sensing images. Distinct from other methods which analyze images pixel by pixel, we introduce visual attention mechanism into detection of airport and improve the efficiency of detection greatly. Firstly, Hough transform is used to judge whether an airport exists in an image. Then an improved graph-based visual saliency model is applied to compute the saliency map and extract regions of interest (ROIs). The airport target is finally detected according to the scale-invariant feature transform features which are extracted from each ROI and classified by hierarchical discriminant regression tree. Experimental results show that the proposed method is faster and more accurate than existing methods, and has lower false alarm rate and better anti-noise performance simultaneously.     

Isolation and Characterization of a Novel Flavonoid Possessing a 4,2″-Glycosidic Linkage from Green Mature Acerola (Malpighia emarginata DC.) Fruit

The novel flavonoid, leucocyanidin-3-O-β-D-glucoside, possessing a 4,2″-glycosidic linkage was isolated from green mature acerola (Malpighia emarginata DC.) puree and given the trivial name “aceronidin.” To examine the functions of aceronidin, its antioxidative activity and both its α-glucosidase and α-amylase inhibition activities, as a potential inhibitor of the sugar catabolic enzyme, were evaluated against those of taxifolin, catechin, isoquercitrin and quercitrin which each have a similar structure. The 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical quenching activity of aceronidin was stronger than that of α-tocopherol and comparable to that of flavonoids. In the yeast α-glucosidase inhibitory assay, aceronidin showed significantly greater inhibition than the other flavonoids tested. In the human salivary α-amylase inhibitory assay, aceronidin showed inhibition activity. Taken together, these results indicate aceronidin to be a potent antioxidant that may be valuable as an inhibitor of sugar catabolic enzymes.     

Quantitative trait loci for growth and body size in the nine‐spined stickleback Pungitius pungitius L.

Body size is an ecologically important trait shown to be genetically variable both within and among different animal populations as revealed by quantitative genetic studies. However, few studies have looked into underlying genetic architecture of body size variability in the wild using genetic mapping methods. With the aid of quantitative trait loci (QTL) analyses based on 226 microsatellite markers, we mapped body size and growth rate traits in the nine‐spined stickleback (Pungitius pungitius) using an F₂‐intercross (n = 283 offspring) between size‐divergent populations. In total, 17 QTL locations were detected. The proportion of phenotypic variation explained by individual body size‐related QTL ranged from 3% to 12% and those related to growth parameters and increments from 3% to 10%. Several of the detected QTL affected either early or late growth. These results provide a solid starting point for more in depth investigations of structure and function of genomic regions involved in determination of body size in this popular model of ecological and evolutionary research.     

Haplotype structure,adaptive history and associations with exploratory behaviour of the DRD4 gene region in four great tit (Parus major) populations

The assessment of genetic architecture and selection history in genes for behavioural traits is fundamental to our understanding of how these traits evolve. The dopamine receptor D4 (DRD4) gene is a prime candidate for explaining genetic variation in novelty seeking behaviour, a commonly assayed personality trait in animals. Previously, we showed that a single nucleotide polymorphism in exon 3 of this gene is associated with exploratory behaviour in at least one of four Western European great tit (Parus major) populations. These heterogeneous association results were explained by potential variable linkage disequilibrium (LD) patterns between this marker and the causal variant or by other genetic or environmental differences among the populations. Different adaptive histories are further hypothesized to have contributed to these population differences. Here, we genotyped 98 polymorphisms of the complete DRD4 gene including the flanking regions for 595 individuals of the four populations. We show that the LD structure, specifically around the original exon 3 SNP is conserved across the four populations and does not explain the heterogeneous association results. Study‐wide significant associations with exploratory behaviour were detected in more than one haplotype block around exon 2, 3 and 4 in two of the four tested populations with different allele effect models. This indicates genetic heterogeneity in the association between multiple DRD4 polymorphisms and exploratory behaviour across populations. The association signals were in or close to regions with signatures of positive selection. We therefore hypothesize that variation in exploratory and other dopamine‐related behaviour evolves locally by occasional adaptive shifts in the frequency of underlying genetic variants.     

Olfaction spontaneously highlights visual saliency map

Attention is intrinsic to our perceptual representations of sensory inputs. Best characterized in the visual domain, it is typically depicted as a spotlight moving over a saliency map that topographically encodes strengths of visual features and feedback modulations over the visual scene. By introducing smells to two well-established attentional paradigms, the dot-probe and the visual-search paradigms, we find that a smell reflexively directs attention to the congruent visual image and facilitates visual search of that image without the mediation of visual imagery. Furthermore, such effect is independent of, and can override, top-down bias. We thus propose that smell quality acts as an object feature whose presence enhances the perceptual saliency of that object, thereby guiding the spotlight of visual attention. Our discoveries provide robust empirical evidence for a multimodal saliency map that weighs not only visual but also olfactory inputs.     

Synthetic studies of centromere-associated protein-E (CENP-E) inhibitors: 1.Exploration of fused bicyclic core scaffolds using electrostatic potential map

Centromere-associated protein-E (CENP-E), a mitotic kinesin that plays an important role in mitotic progression, is an attractive target for cancer therapeutic drugs. For the purpose of developing novel CENP-E inhibitors as cancer therapeutics, we investigated a fused bicyclic compound identified by high throughput screening, 4-oxo-4,5-dihydrothieno[3,4-c]pyridine-6-carboxamide 1a. Based on this scaffold, we designed inhibitors for efficient binding at the L5 site in CENP-E utilizing homology modeling as well as electrostatic potential map (EPM) analysis to enhance CENP-E inhibitory activity. This resulted in a new lead, 5-bromoimidazo[1,2-a]pyridine 7, which showed potent CENP-E enzyme inhibition (IC₅₀: 50 nM) and cellular activity with accumulation of phosphorylated histone H3 in HeLa cells. Our homology model and EPM analysis proved to be useful tools for the rational design of CENP-E inhibitors.     

Novel method of the synthesis and hybridization properties of an oligonucleotide containing non-ionic diisopropylsilyl internucleotide linkage

Efficient synthesis of a dithymidine dinucleotide analog bearing a diisopropylsilyl linkage instead of a phosphodiester linkage is described with respect to its incorporation into oligonucleotides. The diisopropylsilyl linkage was introduced into the oligonucleotide by preparation of the phosphoramidite derivative of a dithymidine dimer unit. The diisopropylsilyl-modified oligonucleotide exhibited hybridization behavior with both single strand and duplex DNA. The thermal stability of both the duplex and triplex showed a relative instability compared to the corresponding natural phosphodiester DNA, because of the steric hindrance of the isopropyl group on the silicon atom.     

Molecular mapping of genomic regions harbouring QTLs for root and yield traits in sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench)

Root system is a vital part of plants for absorbing soil moisture and nutrients and it influences the drought tolerance. Identification of the genomic regions harbouring quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for root and yield traits, and the linked markers can facilitate sorghum improvement through marker-assisted selection (MAS) besides the deeper understanding of the plant response to drought stress. A population of 184 recombinant inbred lines (RILs), derived from E36-1 × SPV570, along with parents were phenotyped for component traits of yield in field and root traits in an above ground rhizotron. High estimates of heritability and genetic advance for all the root traits and for most of the yield traits, presents high scope for improvement of these traits by simple selection. A linkage map constructed with 104 marker loci comprising 50 EST-SSRs, 34 non-genic nuclear SSRs and 20 SNPs, and QTL analysis was performed using composite interval mapping (CIM) approach. A total of eight and 20 QTLs were mapped for root and yield related traits respectively. The QTLs for root volume, root fresh weight and root dry weight were found co-localized on SBI-04, supported by a positive correlation among these traits. Hence, these traits can be improved using the same linked markers. The lack of overlap between the QTLs of component traits of root and yield suggested that these two sets of parameters are independent in their influence and the possibility of combining these two traits might enhance productivity of sorghum under receding moisture condition.     

基于鸟类边缘种行为的景观连接度研究——空间句法的反规划应用

在城市森林及其他生态景观的研究与规划中,结合特定物种(使用者)行为的景观连接度已得到业界越来越多的重视。为了给基于物种行为的景观连接度提供新的建模和分析理念,拟将建筑及城市规划学科中一种可靠的人工智能语言通过反规划思想引入景观生态学领域,通过模拟演绎展示空间句法在研究中的优越性。鉴于鸟类边缘种的栖息地景观构型特点,将空间句法轴线图借用于基于鸟类边缘种行为的景观连接度研究。首先介绍了传统景观连接度的量化方法及物种迁移模型,通过文献综述归纳出此类研究方法的局限性;接着,由反规划启蒙提出将空间句法模型引入"边缘种-栖息地"互动研究的设想;最后,以贺州城市森林规划为例,利用空间句法轴线图探究基于鸟类边缘种行为的景观连接度。模拟实验旨在展示轴线图模型能反映物种对不同景观元素非等权重的选择行为,并可根据物种邻域感知信息预测其复合尺度的行为。